13 Reasons Why - Winston Ware

“When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything. . . affects everything.” Jay Asher expresses this very evidently all throughout his novel, 13 Reasons Why. In the story of a girl named Hannah who had committed suicide and creepily shipped cassette tapes to the 13 people who had caused her to kill herself. I’d recommend this book to anyone because of it’s expression of the things that we all think, because it tells a great story, and finally because it teaches many lessons.

First and foremost, I feel as if anyone can relate to the stories in the cassette tapes. The stories range from stalkers to teachers on her list of people that caused her to end her life. Although it’s in a cruel way to portray it Jay Asher really showed us how to be aware of how things add up. That’s something that all of us could learn and should be in tune with.

Secondly, the story itself is amazing to imagine about. Just think of what you would do if a package was sent to you from someone who had killed themselves. The though personally gives me chills.

No Country For Old Men

Calvin Schumacher

Mrs. Schieffelin

9/8/16

No Country For Old Men

Most times students read a story and have to complete a recommendation, they recommend the book whether they thought it was good or bad. Over the summer, I chose to read No Country for Old Men. Honestly, I was not thrilled with the choices I had. No Country For Old Men sounded like the best possible choice. Mrs. Schieffelin and my dad both recommended it. Before I read it, I did not expect to enjoy it. However, No Country For Old Men was phenomenal book. I would recommend it to anyone entering high school. No Country For Old Men is an intense, action fulfilled story. It keeps you on the edge of your seat at all times. It also is a clever book and I like the way they tie all the characters together. Lastly, I enjoyed this book because it does not have an obvious ending.

During the story, I was anxious on what would happen next. This is a great story to have the reader always guessing what will happen next. When Chigurh was chasing and attempting to kill Llewelyn made the book suspenseful. It made you route for Llewelyn. The story hooked you onto Llewellyn's side. The author made him seem like a protagonist even though he should not have been. Chigurh was the antagonist and the story allowed you to route against him.

In No Country For Old Men, each character is introduced separately, none of them are familiar with each other. After a turn of events they all become tied together in the same issue. The sheriff has to stop the controversy between Llewellyn and Chigurh. Llewellyn discovers money in an abandoned car with an almost dead Mexican Drug dealer in the car. He takes the money and knows what is ahead for him. He immediately tells his wife to go live her mother until he gets situated with the money. Immediately, he checks into a hotel. He knows someone will be after him. He is armed with guns. This is how his encounter with Chigurh comes about. Chigurh is after Llewellyn. The sheriff is trying to prevent any crime in his town.

Before and during every book I read I try to guess the ending. I guessed Llewellyn would end up escaping from Chigurh and live a happy life after. I expected Chigurh would have gotten caught by the Sheriff and locked up. However, I was wrong. The complete opposite happened. Llewellyn was killed by Chigurh who ended up being a cold blooded killer. Chigurh escaped and the Sheriff retired. This makes me enjoy the book much more. I strongly dislike book that I can guess the ending before I begin reading it.

To conclude, I loved No Country For Old Men and it is a great read. I would recommend it to anyone age appropriate. The reason it is called No Country For Old Men is because the Sheriff is an old man and he can no longer prevent crime.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child- Ethan Brown

          Have you ever felt like you live in the shadow of someone. Imagine living your whole life in the shadow of one of the greatest known people in the wizarding world. I personally wouldn't like it. This summer I read the book Harry Potter and the Cursed Child a screenplay written by J.K Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.This book is an "add on" to the well known Harry Potter series. This book follows Harry Potter's children as well as Draco Malfoy's son as they attempt to save the life of Cedric Diggory when he died in the Tri-Wizard tournament 20 years before. They find themselves in a lot of trouble when they try to use a Time Turner hidden within the Ministry of Magic. Even though I did enjoy the book compared to the other stories within the Harry Potter series, I don’t believe that it was truly a good story. Here are three reasons why.

          The first reason is that the book is a bit repetitive. For me, reading a play was a different experience when it comes to reading. The characters interact with each other differently, and understanding the book was different when reading each characters name every time. Anyway, my first reason for not thinking that The Cursed Child was not a good story is that it was repetitive. During the book, a potion was used to make characters Scorpious and Albus look like Hermione and Ron. This is repetitive as 3 other books in the series use this “story” to solve the problem. This is a story because when it is found that Hermione is hiding the Time-Turner alongside the alliance of Harry Potter, children find that there is a different layer to her than may seem. Unlike the other books, I knew exactly what was going to happen and it was repetitive. I knew once the time turner was found, something was going to go wrong. When Scorpious travel back into time, and save Cedric along with Delphi Diggory, they are happy, but like every other book there is a twist. In turn, repetitiveness is never fun to read, see or think about making this the first reason I do not like the story.  

           Adding on to traveling with the time turner, the duo find themselves lost in time because the time turner only gives 5 minutes of traveling back in time. They decide to go back to present day to find out if they had in fact solved the issue and ended up swimming in the lake outside of Hogwarts; well only Scorpious does.  He is yet to be greeted by Dolores Umbridge, the headmaster during the fifth book who takes place of Dumbeldore after telling Harry to run a secret organization teaching students magic. She takes him out of the lake and he finds out that Voldemort is running the wizarding world and Harry Potter is dead. This means that Albus isn’t in existence which explains why Scorpious is the only one in the lake. He learns that by saving cedric, Voldemort kills Harry at the maze and therefore Voldemort isn’t killed in the seventh book. This shocked Scorpious and he learns that he must go back and fix it. My second reason is that the book is cheesy as a screenplay. I think that when you look at the story from a “distance” or a summary, it is the exact same as the other books as well as any other book you or I have ever read. To add on to the tacky story, he goes back and ends up just getting into more trouble, as expected. In all, I did enjoy the storyline, but the story within the story was tawdry, corny and just too predictable.

          The third and final reason why I believe this story to be “bad” is that the characters didn’t learn a lesson that is worth keeping. At the end of the story Albus is taught to always stick by his father for help and Scorpious is just hugged by his father. As a reader I was expecting more of a moral just like the other books and lots of other books in the world. The lesson I took away was that I shouldn’t trust anybody. For anybody reading the book this is not a lesson that should be taught. For me the story was also too abruptly stopped.

           In conclusion, I enjoyed reading the book. But for the three reasons being inferior thoughts, core morals being too brief and repetitiveness, I didn’t like the story that was told. Even for these reasons, I do recommend the book Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Engaged at all times - Justin Barron

Justin Barron

Maze Runner

Imagine being trapped in a Maze, in a maze that no one has ever found the exit to. Doesn’t seem too appealing does it? This summer I read a book called, The Maze Runner, written by James Dashner. The main character is this book, Thomas, is thrown into this maze with a loss of all of his memory. When he arrives at the maze he meets all of the people who live in the community. Immediately he is introduced to the background story of the maze. Thomas quickly learns that no one has ever gotten out of the maze and that no one plans to any time soon. In this book Thomas decides to push the limits of the community and the maze and attempts to escape. This is what makes this a good read. Seeing the characters develop, going through the conflicts, and really feeling like you are there is amazing. The author does a great job of making you feel like you are actually with Thomas in the maze.

In the beginning of this book Thomas is tossed into the maze as a scared young man. Over time he develops by becoming braver and stepping into the role of a “leader.” For example, Thomas is trapped in the metal cage and he is very scared, “Someone...help…me!” says Thomas on page three. This shows him at his “youngest” in this book. Youngest meaning, his least experienced. It did not take very long for Thomas to mature, in chapter sixteen Thomas displays his interest in exploration and pushing the limits. “Runner, he thought as he went on break. Just let me be a Runner. Once again he thought about how absurd it was that he wanted it so badly. But even though he didn't understand it, or where it came from, the desire was undeniable.” This is showing how quickly he has developed in only sixteen chapters. He has gone from a young boy who was terrified on his way up to the glade and now he is wanting to run out into a place where very few people come back alive. James Dashner puts us through Thomas’s development process, we have to experience the nervousness and the eagerness of Thomas throughout the entire book. Experiencing these emotions taps into the reader and this is what makes the Maze Runner a good read.

The main character in the book, Thomas, is put through many conflicts. The author does a great job of making us feel as if we are with Thomas through these conflicts. In chapter two Thomas is in a conflict with himself, he is fighting his emotions. “Different emotions battled for dominance in his mind and heart. Confusion. Curiosity. Panic. Fear. But laced through it all was the dark feeling of utter hopelessness, like the world had ended for him, had been wiped from his memory and replaced with something awful.” Reading this it really feels as if the reader themselves are feeling every single one of these emotions as well. The reader has to fight through each and every emotion with Thomas. The author does a great job of keeping the reader engaged in Thomas’s feelings. Keeping the reader engaged and interested is a part of what makes this book so fun to read.

As Thomas runs through the maze the reader themselves can really feel the presence of the maze. We can feel how terrifying it is running into a maze that few people come back from. In chapter twenty nine when he is inside the maze running this happens, “It shocked him when he realized he'd been running for almost an hour—the shadows of the walls ran long toward the east, and soon the sun would set for the night and the Doors would close. He had to get back. It only peripherally hit him then that without thinking he'd recognized the direction and the time. That his instincts were strong.” He has been inside the maze running for almost an hour, he had been running to his death for almost an hour. Now he had to get back to the Glade before the doors of the maze closed. Reading about Thomas running through the maze not knowing what is around each corner is great for the reader. It keeps their mind thinking at all times about the risks he is taking. Feeling the presence of the Maze as a reader is amazing, it actually feels as if you are running through it yourself.

After reading this book you realize how engaging it is. The author puts you through everything, from the beginning where Thomas first arrives at the Glade to the last moments of when he is escaping the maze. Reading about all the characters develop, seeing them fight through conflicts, and really feeling like you are there with the characters as they fight against the maze, is what makes this book a fantastic read. This book is perfect for any reader who likes to be entertained right from the get-go, the author grabs your attention immediately and never lets it go.  

High Fidelity is Worth Reading (and the movie's on Netflix)

The Secret Life of Bees - Vanessa Meikle

               Good stories are hard to find. Most books I read are either too boring, not a topic that is of interest to me, in a tense that I find hard to read, or have a writing style that I don't enjoy. One book I read this summer that fits the difficult criteria I have to be a good book is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Lily Owens, the protagonist, is my age; 14. She lives in South Carolina and has a father who abuses her and a caretaker named Rosaleen, who kind of fills in for tasks Lily's mother should have been there for, if she hadn't left Lily and Lily's father when she was little. Lily's life is filled with hectic racism of the South and getting in trouble with the police multiple times on her journey to find out more about her mother. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something written in an exciting, spunky style with a large vocabulary, something with an adventurous plot that never gets boring, and something that is short, sweet, and gets to the point.

               On page 79, Su Monk Kidd wrote a few lines that I loved and wanted to read over and over again."The rain had stopped and the sun glowed behind a bank of clouds. Pinewoods stretched beyond the honey house in every direction. I could make out beehives tucked under the trees in the distance, the tops of them postage stamps of white shine". The author goes on for a whole scene in the book describing the woods and scenery in this same way and style. these first few lines set the stage for a moment of quiet and peacefulness in the book. I love it when I have to look up words in a novel I am reading, because It means the words are new and interesting enough where I want to know more about them. A good book always has great description, writing style and an interesting vocabulary.

               To me, plot is 99% of the story. A book can have the best description in the world, great character development, or perfect writing style, but if the plot is boring, none of that matters. Whether a plot is "boring" or not depends on the reader and what their interests are, but I can assure you that anyone who reads The Secret Life Of Bees will love the plot. The time period, 1964, is a time where there is so much discrimination and so many other rules that are different from today, that it is thrilling to read because you never know what someone might get in trouble for, or who is going to think what about something.

               The Secret Life of Bees is about 300 pages long. I am definitely not saying a book needs to be on the shorter side to be good, but sometimes novels are too long and have much more detail than is needed. Sometimes that's good, but if you are looking for something short and sweet that gets straight to the point in an elegant way that pulls you in wanting to read more, this book does just that. Chapters are roughly 12 pages long. This is a perfect amount for lots of detail before having a fresh start at a new chapter,  but not so much that you doze off and have to read a few lines over again.

              There are a few smaller stories of less importance that are going on as the main plot matures.  One is the story of Lily and Zach. Lily starts to like Zach, but that leads to problems because of the time period and the fact that Lily is white and Zach is black. Even more problems come from this including one other character committing suicide.

               The Secret Life of Bees ends with Lily Owens finding out the truth about what happened to her mother, and comes to terms with that and with her father. She is finally able to make her dad realize that he shouldn't hurt her. She is his daughter, not his wife that left him, but his precious daughter who needs to be taken care of. It is one of the best books I have ever read because it has words that make me think, descriptive lines that make me want to read on forever, and isn't too short or too long, leaving me wanting more at the end.




               

To Kill A Mockingbird- Nicholas Choo

“There’s nothing better than a good story -Lauren Graham.” But what makes a good story? A good story is made up of different characteristics and traits that when combined makes a good story. In the case of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee it is the setting, character development, and life lessons. When the story takes place and how the characters change throughout the book are crucial to the book being a great story. But the most important of all is the lesson that is taken away from reading the book. Due to all of these traits being present in the book, it makes it a truly great story.

The setting of the book is one of the main reasons why To Kill a Mockingbird creates such a great story. The story is set in the early 1930s in a small town in the south called Maycomb, Alabama. Throughout this time period segregation and racism against people of color were present and taken advantage of. In addition, in the early 1930s The Great Depression was rampant which left many white and black people without jobs. Maycomb, being a small town in a desolate area was seriously affected by the depression. Without this whole setting, the story would be completely different due to the actions and situation that was present during this period in history. The setting allowed for Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell, to be convicted although solid evidence was presented that he wasn’t guilty. "He looked oddly off balance, but it was not from the way he was standing. His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small shriveled hand, and from as far away as the balcony I could see that it was no use to him" (Lee 248). This evidence from the text proves that Tom Robinson could have not harmed Mayella Ewell especially since the bruises on Mayella’s face were on the right side.  The story revolves around the time period and racism towards black people therefore, the setting is key to making this a good story.

 

The way that the characters change throughout the book contribute to making the book a great story. Jem is portrayed at the beginning of the book as a young boy who wants to play with his sister and friends. As the story progresses we see the Jem matures exponentially, we see an example of this when Atticus and Aunt Alexandra and discussing the Tom Robinson case and Jem threatens to hit Scout. “Now I mean it, Scout, you antagonize Aunty and I’ll spank you.” (Lee 156). This is demonstrates that he understands what is going on while Scout, is still a child and is naive to the situation. His maturity is most evidently displayed when Tom Robinson is convicted of rape and Jem is upset. He understands the case and the injustice that was placed upon Tom Robinson. The character development that takes place throughout the plot is one of the qualities that makes it a good story.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” “Sir?” “until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 33). This quote from To Kill a Mockingbird  illustrates how the book isn’t only a good story, but changes the way we think in our minds. In the quote above, it teaches us to not make assumptions about another person until we can walk in that person's shoes. When Atticus Finch is saying this to his daughter, he isn’t only teaching her an important life lesson, but the person reading the book also. This is an example of a lesson that was learnt from the book. It also is one of the factors of what makes the book such a good story.

With the setting of the book in place while we see growth in characters throughout the story, it has shown how the two contrast to build a good plot. In addition, being able to take away a lesson after reading the book shows the significance the book reflects on readers. The setting, character development, and life lessons that To Kill a Mockingbird showed exemplifies the definition of a great story.